Artificial playing surface



Dec 3 1, 1968 R. A. R. HUMALAINEN 3,418,897 l ARTIFICIAL PLAYING SURFACEFiled June 12, 1967 INVENTOR ROBERT A. l?. HUMALA/NEN am, m1/0.5 16mm,

ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,418,897 ARTIFICIAL PLAYING SURFACERobert A. R. Hnmalainen, 384 Mill St., Conneaut, Ghio 44u30 Filed June12, 1967, Ser. No. 645,342 Claims. (Cl. 94-7) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLGSUREAn artificial playing surface having a continuous layer of artificialgrass stretched over a layer of all-weather carpeting or the like withthe periphery of the artificial grass layer anchored in the g-roundoutside the periphery of the carpeting.

Background of the invention This invention relates to an articialplaying surface, particularly an articial yputting green, whichpossesses substantially the same properties as a natural plaving surfacetherebv p-roviding substantially the same playing conditions and withoutthe considerable expense normally required to install and maintain anatural putting green.

Today there are many aspiring amateur golfers and would-be golfers whowould enjoy having a practice putting green in his own backyard toimprove his putting skills, but the cost of installing and maintaining anatural putting green is prohibitive. Moerover, while various types ofartificial playing surfaces have been devised for use in place ofnatural putting greens which provide closely similar playing conditions,they are generally so elaborate and expensive that as a practical matterthe average person cannot afford an artificial puttin-g green any morethan he can the real thing.

Summary of the invention The artificial playing surface of the presentinvention, like those of the prior art, has substantially the sameproperties as a natural playing surface, and in addition is much lessexpensive in construction and can be readily installed Vby anyonewithout the use of special tools, these being principal objects of thepresent invention. These and other objects are achieved by lproviding aplaying surface having a base layer of all-weather carpeting or the likewhich has the give of turf and a top layer of articial grass stretchedover the base layer with its periphery anchored in a channel member inthe ground outside the periphery of the carpeting by forcing a rodmember into such channel member.

It is accordingly another object of this invention to provide anartificial playin-g surface with a novel anchoring means for holding theoutermost layer of the playing surface in a tightly stretched conditionto provide uniform resistance to a rolling ball over its entire area.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention,then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims, the following description andthe annexed drawing setting forth in detail a certain illustrativeembodiment of the invention, this being indicative, however, of but oneof the various ways in which the principles of the invention may beemployed.

periphery of the playing surface of FIG. l illustrating the surface andparticularly showing the manner in which ice the artificial grass layeris anchored in the ground; and FIG. 3 is an exploded fragmentaryperspective view of the anchoring means of FIG. 2 in disassembled form.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring now in detail to thedrawing and first especially to FIG. 1, there is shown `by way ofexample an artificial playing surface 1 in accordance with thisinvention installed in a -backyard 2 or other such location for use as aputting green 3 having a cup 4 therein which may be marked by a flag 5in conventional manner. Sand traps or other obstacles, not illustrated,may be placed around the green 3 as desired.

As will be apparent from FIG. 2, the artificial playing surface 1generally comprises a base layer 6 disposed in a shallow recess 7 intheground 2 and covered by a thin layer 8 of artificial grass. The Ibaselayer 6 maybe of any of the commercially available all-weathercarpetings having the required resiliency and compressibility tosimulate turf, a good example being the so-called inside-outside patiorugs presently on the market, and desirably has a thickness of about 3/8inch with its upper surface 10 approximately flush with the ground 2adjacent the recess 7. If desired, a layer 11 of fine gravel or othersuch material having a depth of about 1 to 11/2 inches may cover thebottom 12 of the recess 7 to facilitate drainage, in which case therecess 7 would have to be dug approximately 11/2 inches deep at itsperiphery 13. In any event, the recess 7 should be deep enough to removeall of the grass and weeds and should be subsequently sprayed or coated`with a suitable weed killer prior to placement of the gravel layer 11.Inwardly of the periphery 13 the recess 7 may be of any desired contourwhich can ybe assumed `by the carpet layer 6 without the formation ofbulges or Wrinkles.

After the carpet layer 6 has been installed, elongated channel sections15 of extruded plastic having parallel side walls 16, 17 and a roundbottom 18 are driven into the ground 2 outside the periphery of therecess 7 and carpet layer 6. The channel sections 15 may have an overallheight of approximately 21/2 inches and be continuous in length, orthere may be a plurality of such sections spaced approximately 18 to 20inches apart in the ground. The fianged top 19 of the inner side wall 16may be flush with the ground, but the outermost Side wall 17 isdesirably slightly shorter than the inner side wall 16 to permit sod 20to be placed over its top flange 21 without forming a hump. Should thesoil be too hard to permit driving of the channel sections, a shallowtrench may be cut in the ground for receipt of the channel sections.

The artificial grass layer S may now be placed over the carpet layer 6and pulled tightly to remove most wrinkles and the like, after which thegrass layer 8 is cut outwardly of the channel sections 15 so that itsouter periphery 22 overlies the channel sections a distance somewhatgreater than the depth of the channel sections, in this case about 21/2inches. Next one or more rods 23 which may be of plastic having adiameter slightly larger than the spacing between the side walls 16, 17of the channel sections 15 are used to push the periphery 22 of thegrass layer -8 into the channel sections and lock or anchor suchperiphery 22 in place by the rods 23 engaged in the round bottom portion18 of the channel sections. As the periphery 22 of the grass layer 8 isforced into the channel sections, the grass layer is caused to Ibetightly stretched over the carpet layer 6 and is permanently held insuch stretched condition by the plastic rods 23.

The grass layer 8 has a thin Woven rbacking 25 and a nap 26 of exiblefibers projecting a slight distance above the backing which closelyresembles closecut grass to provide the desired resistance to rolling ofa golf ball thereon similar to the grass on a natural putting green.Such artificial grass 8 like the carpet layer 6 should ybe able towithstand the rain, ice, and snow so that the artificial playing surface1 may be left in the ground year around, -but the playing surface 1could be taken up vfor the winter mouths or covered during bad weatherif desired. An example of a commercially available artificial grasswhich has proven satisfactory in use is Velvetex.

With the artificial grass layer 8 properly anchored as just described,the open end 27 of the channel sections 15 may be filled with sod 20 andthe cup 4 located on the green where desired by cutting a hole throughthe articial playing surface 1 and digging out the ground therebeneathto the extent necessary to receive the cup 4 therein.

From the above discussion, it can now be seen that the artificialplaying surface of the present invention is of a relatively inexpensiveyconstruction and yet provides a durable playing surface havingsubstantially the same properties as a natural putting green andrequires very little care or upkeep. The artificial grass layer isfirmly anchored in a stretched condition around its entire peripherythereby providing a playing surface which closely matches the contour ofthe carpet layer therebeneath for uniform resistance to rolling of agolf ball thereon.

While the artificial playing surface disclosed herein has beenspecifically described with reference to its use as `an artificialputting green, it should be understood that the principles of theinvention are also applicable to the other types of artificial playingsurfaces as well, such as outdoor lawn tennis courts, badminton courts,and volley ball courts, to name a few.

Other modes of applying the principles of the invention may be employed,change being made as regards the details described, provided thefeatures stated in any of the following claims or the equivalent of suchbe employed.

I, therefore, particularly point out and distinctly claim as myinvention:

1. An artificial playing surface such as may be used for putting greensand the like comprising a base layer of a carpet-like material havingthe desired resiliency and compressibility disposed in a recess in theground, an outer layer of artificial grass covering said base layer, and-rneans for anchoring the outer periphery of said outer layer in theground outside said recess to maintain said outer layer in a tightlystretched condition over said 'base layer.

2. The artificial playing surface of claim 1 wherein said means foranchoring said outer layer in the ground as aforesaid comprises achannel section embedded Iin the ground outside the periphery of saidrecess, said channel section having vertically extending side walls anda round bottom, and an elongated rod engaging the bottom of said channelsection locking the periphery of said outer layer lbetween said rod andthe bottom of said channel section.

3. The artificial playing surface of claim 2 wherein the inner side wallof said channel section is longer than the outer side wall, whereby whenthe top of said inner side wall is fiush with the ground vthe top ofsaid outer side wall is below ground level to permit sod to be placedover the top of said outer side wall without forming a hump.

4. The artificial playing surface of claim 2 wherein said rod causessaid top layer to be stretched during pushing of the periphery of saidtop layer into said channel section by said rod.

5. The artificial playing surface of claim 2 wherein there are aplurality of said channel sections embedded in the ground in spacedapart relation.

6. The artificial playing surface of claim 2 wherein said channelsection is a plastic extrusion and said rod is also plastic.

7. The artificial playing surface of claim 1 further comprising a layerof fine gravel covering the bottom of Said recess to facilitatedrainage.

8. The artificial playing surface of claim 1 wherein said base layercomprises an all-weather inside-outside patio rug, and said artificialgrass layer comprises a thin Woven backing having a nap of flexiblefibers projecting therefrom.

9. The artificial playing surface of claim 8 wherein said base layer isapproximately inch thick and its outer surface is substantially flushwith the ground adjacent the periphery of said recess.

10. The artificial playing surface of claim 9 further comprising a layerof gravel covering the bottom of said recess to facilitate drainage,said gravel layer being approximately 1 to 11/2 inches dee-p.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,277,936 9/1918 Innes 94-71,352,733 9/1920 Egerton 94-7 X 1,949,063 2/1934 Merrill 94-7 1,970,9598/1934 Gauntlett 94-7 X 2,515,847 7/1950 Winkler 94-7 X 3,323,802`6/1967 Riner 947 X 3,348,847 10/1967 Fischl 94-7 X NILE C. BYERS,Primary Examiner.

